The Estate of Japan videos of the Phantom of the Opera
Tokyo, Nissay Theater (29.04 - 20.09.1988)
1988; Tokyo, Japan Masachika Ichimura (Phantom), Ryoko Nomura (Christine), Yuichiro Yamaguchi (Raoul), Masako Saito (Carlotta), Jun Sawaki (André), Takanori Yamamoto (Firmin), Jun Kitagawa (Piangi), Yuko Shibagaki (Mme Giry), Yayoi Aoyama (Meg) Single-cam proshot, soundboard. Amazing quality for its age. Video does flicker and skip at times. Three flubs during the final scene - boat stops in 'Down Once More' and the Phantom and Christine go walking on water, candles and set are not fully onstage when the leads come in, and the doll gets stuck on the Phantom's throne. VOB|1 DVD|2.09 GB
Tokyo, Shinbashi Playhouse (21.08 - 23.10.1990)
1990; Tokyo, Japan* Yuichiro Yamaguchi (Phantom), Sakoto Yoshioka (Christine), Yuji Osa/Kanji Ishimaru (Raoul) This disk contains 2 videos: the first one is 36 minutes of scattered highlights with excellent quality, filmed from right side of the stalls, Yuji Osa as Raoul. The second one is full act 1 from different performance filmed from the circle, good quality for its age (3rd screenshot), the chandelier fall was borrowed from the highlights, Kanji Ishimaru as Raoul. What these videos share in common is some shakiness and the fact that they both are a bit flattened. Also includes 4 minutes of the show which is unknown to me at the end. The last video file is damaged by digital glitches starting from second video's AIAoY where glitches are not a serious problem, from "I must go" till the end the video becomes hardly watchable. The first year for Yuichiro Yamaguchi as the Phantom after playing Raoul for 2 years. Later in the interview he said that he was too young (34 years) to play the Phantom so he didn't manage to express all his feelings about the character. This is also the debut for Kanji Ishimaru who was a student at that moment. VOB|1 DVD|2.88 GB
Tokyo, Nissay Theater (17.01 - 13.04.1992)
18 January 1992; Tokyo, Japan* Yuichiro Yamaguchi (Phantom), Takako Nakazawa (Christine), Masayuki Sano (Raoul) Despite being just slightly affected by the generation loss, filming is somewhat poor with shakiness and midshots only. Sound constantly switches from brilliant to good, like the master blocks the mic with their finger, quite annoying for me. Seems to came from the same physical trader as the 1990 DVD, the picture is also a bit flattened, it additionally includes second unmasking and parts of final lair, curtain call and playout from 1990 highlights plus 2 clips from shows which are unknown to me. Unfortunately, there's one more reason to say that 1990 DVD and this one came from the same source: damaged 3rd video file, though this one has 4 video files. Due to this damage, second half of the final lair from the main video has some occasional glitches but right before "Christine, I love you" the video becomes absolutely unwatchable, which leads to missing the rest of the show, curtain calls, clips from the 1990 bootleg and the beginning of the first clip from the unknown show. VOB|1 DVD|3.35 GB
1992; Tokyo, Japan Yuichiro Yamaguchi (Phantom), Kyoko Suzuki (Christine), Masayuki Sano (Raoul) Yamaguchi-oriented highlights, 55 minutes. Filmed from the rear mezz, mostly midshots and has a lots of washout, still Yamaguchi gives very strong performance, much stronger than in another video. Also includes highlights of the 1994 video with Yamaguchi but quality is definitely worse here (3rd screenshot). VOB|1 DVD|3.90 GB
1992; Tokyo, Japan* Jun Sawaki (Phantom), Kyoko Suzuki (Christine), Kanji Ishimaru (Raoul) Single-cam proshot. Tons of generation loss, big counter in left upper corner and the sound is anything but clear. VOB|2 DVD|7.85 GB
1992; Tokyo, Japan* Yuichiro Yamaguchi (Phantom), Takako Nakazawa (Christine), Masayuki Sano/Kanji Ishimaru (Raoul), Jun Sawaki (André) Generally usual video for early 90s with some generation loss and yellow tint, filmed from the circle. AIAoY and most of the final lair have being replaced with footage from another performance, filmed from the first rows with marvelous close-ups (2nd screencap), in this footage Raoul is played by Kanji Ishimaru. VOB|1 DVD|4.22 GB
Sapporo, JR Theatre (01.09.1993 - 24.07.1994)
1994; Sapporo, Japan Yuichiro Yamaguchi (Phantom), Kyoko Suzuki (Christine), Masayuki Sano (Raoul), Jun Sawaki (André), Toshihide Mura (Firmin) In fact there're 4 Phantoms in this video because every male main cast member here (except Piangi) played Phantom at the same time or later. Shot from the front rows and has amazing close-ups and nice colors, though filming is very shaky, especially in Act 1 but all scenes with Phantom are steady, a few heads sometimes blocking parts of the stage. Focuses on Sawaki' and Yamaguchi's faces quite often. Also includes the Title Song, MOTN and Final Lair with Eiji Akutagawa as Phantom. Shot from from further back but still has wonderful close-ups and much steadier filming (3rd screenshot). Akutagawa's new pseudonym is Soma Suzuki. VOB|1 DVD|4.13 GB
6 April 1994; Sapporo, Japan* Eiji Akutagawa (Phantom), Hisako Hanaoka (Christine), Kanji Ishimaru (Raoul) Updated version with clearer and brighter picture. I believe this is another transfer from the same tape but without compression, the size of the folder is almost twice larger. Very nice soft picture and good filming. Also rather good audio but with minor mechanical hissing. Worse version often misdated as 1996. Listed as the closing night of Sapporo production but, according to my info, the production was closed at 24 July. VOB|1 DVD|3.12 GB
Tokyo, Nissay Theater (19.12.1995 - 15.04.1997)
13 April 1996; Tokyo, Japan* Toshihide Mura (Phantom), Kyoko Suzuki (Christine), Daisuke Yanase (Raoul) Monitor video, soundboard MP4|1.10 GB looking for VOB
Osaka, Shiki Theater (03.05.2007 - 17.05.2009)
1 July 2007; Osaka, Japan Masayuki Sanko (Phantom), Tamami Sai (Christine), Yusuke Kitazawa (Raoul), Miki Tanegashima (Carlotta), Kazuo Hayashi (André), Masonori Koizumi (Firmin), Shunichiro Hanba (Piangi), Aiko Toda (Mme Giry), Kaori Arai (Meg) Includes little theatre footage. The video itself is well-filmed but the picture is not too clear. VOB|1 DVD|2.00 GB
30 June 2008; Osaka, Japan* Osamu Takai (Phantom), Shiho Ito (Christine), Yusuke Kitazawa (Raoul), Miki Tanegashima (Carlotta), Morihito Masuda (André), Masanori Koizumi (Firmin), Shunichiro Hanba (Piangi), Aiko Toda (Mme Giry), Yuria Nishida (Meg) Originally this video was dated just as "2008" but it seems to be from the same performance as the 30.06.2008 audio. Filmed from the first row without close-ups but the master follows the action carefully, still rarely the camera is lowered and it can be unfocused plus spotlight washout sometimes. Some distortion caused by DVD-VHS transfer, otherwise great quality. VOB|2 DVD|4.27 GB
Tokyo, JR-EAST Shiki Theatre AKI (24.10.2020 - 10.02.2022)
9 November 2021; Tokyo, Japan* Daisei Shimizu (Phantom), Sae Yamamoto (Christine), Susumu Kato (Raoul), Aya Kawamura (Carlotta), Yusuke Kitazawa (André), Toshihide Mura (Firmin), Takahiro Nagai (Piangi), Aiko Toda (Mme Giry), Mariko Gosho (Meg) Missing everything from Wishing. Nice video filmed from the first rows. Some minor spotlight washout and pixilation, but the video is still enjoyable. Sound is not that clear as one can expect, but it's not awful after all. MP4|6.02 GB